When I was in high school, I befriended this skinny, quirky kid that worked at the local Amoco station across the street from the grocery store where I bagged groceries. We both drove Monte Carlos; his was a little more scratched up than mine due to an incident with a bug that assaulted him while he was driving down a dirt road near his house or at least that is the story he told his parents the day it happen. We spent hours and hours hanging out at the Amoco while he was working as I was the new kid in town and never found making friends an easy thing to do. Since he was at work and couldn't leave, I had a captive audience. At some point along the way, I must have convinced him that my friendship was worth having and we forged a tight knit friendship and we'd spend the better part of the next decade as classmates, roommates, teammates, and the best of friends.
We moved out of our parents houses right after we graduated high school into this little shanty of a house on the golf course at Fairfield Plantation. He went off to college at West Georgia and I soon followed after a failed attempt to go off and do my own thing. More than one time we chased after the same girl; he won most of the time, well all the time, but who's keeping score. Even through moments when we could have literally killed each other over a girl or some other trivial disagreement, our friendship always made it through. Even the time he thought it would be a funny idea to wake me up with a very realistic toy snake and found out that I slept with a gun next to my bed and wasn't afraid to point it at people, our friendship endured. We were inseparable; a ying and yang matched pair. He was a neat freak and I was the slob. He arranged his half of the closet by t-shirts, then polo shirts, then long sleeve shirts; my clothes were in a heap on the floor of the closet. He was outgoing and the life of the party and I was the strong silent type that kept him out of trouble when his mouth wrote checks his butt couldn't cash.
He changed colleges and I feel head-over-heels in love with the girl that would eventually become my wife and for a while we lived separate lives, but before long I followed him to his new college and we lived across the hall from each other in the dorms. I lived with his family during the summers while working to pay for school. I gave my life to Jesus in the upstairs bedroom on his stepfathers house in Hampton, Ga. His mother bought me my first Bible to celebrate the occasion, which I still have to this day. I loved him like a brother and I thought we'd always be friends. But funny things happen and some where along this journey, unbeknownst to us, we had built up some animosity, some resentment, and probably a little jealousy and envy. He was always smarter than me; often correcting my English papers, he was better looking than me and the woman just flocked to him in droves, and he had this engaging personality that was so different from my introverted one. One day, we got into an argument, feelings were hurt, words were exchanged, but it didn't feel any different than any of the other times we'd gotten on each others nerves or exchanged words, but something was different. The anger and the resentment never receded and soon we stop talking; he moved out and we didn't speak again for another 12 years.
About 8 months ago, I "friended" his sister on Facebook and she gave me his number; I stored it away in my phone and never thought much about it. When I was Saved at his house back all those years ago, I never changed my life. About the same time that his sister gave me his number, on a invitation from a family member, I wandered into this amazing little church in Villa Rica and it would help change my life. The people of that church and the Word of God touched my life in a way that has changed my heart forever. Instead of being this bullheaded guy doing life his own way, I now have a relationship with God that shapes my life. I heard God for the first time and had faith that in His Word there was life; rich and satisfying life.
One day, I was driving home from work and I heard God say, "Call Bill". I think my initial response was something like, "No". I was afraid that if I called him it might be awkward. The last words we spoke were not kind and how do you call someone out of the blue after 12 years. Again, God said, "Call him". But this time I had a rebuttal, "No, what if it's awkward or he's indifferent? I will feel dumb." "Call him" was the response. So I did and the conversation couldn't have gone any better. We talked about wives and children, he leads a Bible study group at his church and I play in the Worship band at our church, and while we only had a few minutes to talk we planned to meet up at our upcoming class reunion. He said he was glad I called and I thanked God for being so much smarter than me.
My family and I spent yesterday afternoon at his house in Newnan with his lovely wife, whom I love to death, and his three wonderful children. We laughed, played catch with his son, and the kids jumped on the trampoline. The wives talked and the children played like they had known each other for a lot longer than a few hours. We talked, watched football, and ate pizza with a table full of kids and you would never have thought there was a 12 year gap in our friendship. At one point of the night, he and I went to the local grocery store to pick up some dessert and while we were walking through Publix, he commented that is was funny how here we were after all these years hanging out with each others families. But you know, that is how I had always envisioned our lives being. All those years ago, I would never have thought it would have been any different than it was that night. It was always the unspoken plan to barbeque in each others' backyards, to watch the kids little league games, and to be lifelong friends.
As I sat in church this morning listening to the preacher'n, I took a couple minutes to thank God for being smarter than me, for having a plan for me, for telling me to make that call, for Bill, Ashley, Tripp, Jasper, and Zoee Grace, for "Honk Honk", and for a second chance to make things right. I didn't know how heavy a burden I had been carrying for the last 12 years until He lifted that yoke from me. I reflected back on the last 8 months and how so many things have changed in my life and how much more rich and satisfying it really has become. I don't know often Bill and his family and my family will be able to get together, but I know, thanks to God, that I don't have to worry about not getting a second chance to make things right nor do I have to live with that burden. Yesterday morning, I sat eating my breakfast next to two men in their fifties, who appeared to be long time friends, and as they passed a business card back and forth, they each had to reach for their reading glasses to see the smallish print as they talked about airplanes and airplane parts, a conversation it seemed they have had many many times, and I thought to myself two things; how cool is that to find a kindred spirit like that to share your life with and man does God know what he is doing or what!
